S3 Ep 83 Accessing Natural Magic & Energy Lines with Deb Schaffer

So , whether you're looking to boost your emotional wealth or tap into your personal magic , this one is for you . Deb shares her powerful journey from facing a life-threatening cancer diagnosis to finding healing through connection with nature , energy clearing and rituals .

So get ready to learn how you can bring a little more magic into your life with just using the things around you .

This episode is brought to you by the how we Get Through community , where the real transformation happens Live events , daily meditations , journal prompts and deep connections with people who actually get it . So hit that subscribe button so you never miss a show and , if you're ready to fully step in , join the how we Get Through community today .

The link's in the show notes Welcome or welcome back to how we Get Through , where we heal , we expand and we get through together . Welcome back to the how we Get Through podcast . Today's guest is Deb Schaefer . Deb , welcome to the show .

I had my own physical brick-and-mortar shop , I had my own interior design firm and I found a lump in my breast and I was four months late for my mammogram and I thought , well , lots of people are late , it's not going to be anything . So ran to my doctor .

She's like , yeah , this is , it's a lymph node , nothing to worry about , but it literally popped up overnight . But it literally popped up overnight . And so of course I made my mammogram appointment immediately and somehow they got me right in , because I guess all you have to do is say lump .

And so I went for the mammogram and it showed something suspicious and they took me right from there to a sonogram and right from the sonogram to a biopsy , like within minutes , and I was alone . I mean , I had no idea

that this was going to be the way things were going to go , that this was going to be the way things were going to go , and a couple of days later the doctor called and said that I had an extremely aggressive form of breast cancer and it was triple negative , which is not your usual kind , at least at that point , and on a scale of nine , zero to nine .

I was at an eight as to how aggressive it was , and through like a whole bunch of I call them moments of God , like I call them moments of God , like why did this happen the way it did ? It was because there was a bigger power than me kind of guiding this whole thing . And I promise I'll get to the end of the story , but I think this is important .

I was told that I had basically two years , they were going to try to get me to a two-year survival and our son had literally started his first day of eighth grade , so he was 13 .

And this kind of breast cancer typically affects younger women and I like pulled on my big girl pants , I'm like okay , god , this is that chat you know that we all kind of have at some point in our life and I said this is not how I see it going down . I refuse to leave my son without a mother .

It wasn't so much about me anymore , it was about this and he's our only child . And I refused to show me what you want me to do and I will do it . And so I threw a whole more serious , more , these just like universal nudges . I was randomized into a trial , a clinical trial , which is now protocol .

Um , I went through , like surgery after surgery I did , um , I'd started with a lumpectomy back to me and I guess I should back up that lump really was a lymph node . The tumor was way down underneath the breast , in a spot that , had I been on time for my mammogram , would not have been caught .

I mean , I knew that my grandmother , my great-grandmother , had died of breast cancer , that my aunt , my dad's sister , had died of ovarian cancer , that three of my four female cousins had breast cancer .

So I went back to my surgeon and I said I need a double mastectomy , like tomorrow , because I still have 30 , 40 years to develop the kind of breast cancer that most women . If you develop breast cancer the kind you know I call it like regular breast cancer , not to make light of it at all . I'm totally not doing that .

I mean , as a designer , you're stepping into someone's energetic space and aligning it with their personality , with their hopes and dreams personality , with their hopes and dreams and feng shui is is just another art and a means to accomplish that . So I became a feng shui master and teacher .

And then , when I was doing my , my radiation oncology in that office , they offered all different kinds of modalities that could be used as an adjunct to traditional western medicine , so things like energy medicine , reiki , guided meditation , yoga , you know on and on , and I thought , ooh , this Reiki thing sounds kind of interesting .

So I went down that rabbit hole for years and I became a master teacher , like over and over , with so many different people , because I think that there is always something to learn from different teachers and sometimes it's how you don't want to practice , or what you don't want to teach or what you don't want to incorporate into your bag of tricks .

And so then , from there , I studied herbalism

and I thought this is really cool , but it's really pretty stressful , like overwhelming , right , overwhelming . Just so many things that you have to remember and so much responsibility . And so then from there , I promise I'm almost at the end oh , I love it .

I created this healing modality , working with the earth that I call earth alchemy , and what I do is I will take someone's address and I can go to Mr Google and download the plot of their land so I can see where does their house sit on their land , and this will work even if it's like a single family or a townhouse or an apartment or a tent on a

mountain somewhere . And then I map out where the naturally occurring energy lines within the earth flow and do they cross underneath someone's house ? Where do they cross ? Um and I , I use an intake questionnaire and people will provide me with the names and ages of the people living in the house , including , like cats , dogs , birds , mice , whatever .

And I assess whether each of those energy lines is beneficial , neutral or detrimental to the energy of each one of those inhabitants . And then my job becomes to clear those lines and at least lift up the detrimental energies to neutral , if not beneficial . Because if we're not in alignment with the land that we're living on , all kinds of things can happen .

You know , health can take a detour . We might have infertility issues , we might have increased headaches , we might have relationship issues , we might just feel unsettled . Feel unsettled and when we're feeling any or all of those things , we are not living our best , most energetically brilliant life .

And so from there , I started scouring the internet looking for tools that would help me deepen this practice or deepen my meditation or my prayer work . And God came through and he was like okay , girl , you've got these gardens , go use them .

And so what started with one incense that I could burn to clear the air , to create sacred space , became a candle , became an entire business . So now I not only have the products , but I have energy clients , I have earth alchemy clients . I have and the products to support those people and the work that either I or they want to do .

And so I think I come a long line of um . You know , the word witch has such a a negative connotation , but really in the original meaning of the word it was wise woman or healing woman , and so that's what I think it . I think I'm now channeling all of those strong , powerful , nurturing women in my my DNA lineage .

And then I think that , in addition to the , the , the familial lineage that we all have , we all have what I call our spiritual DNA , and that is what has our soul encountered in previous lives have we been ? Have we gone down the healer path ? Have we been Native American ? Have we been Eastern European ? Have have we been Celtic ?

And I think that's why we're all drawn to sort of a mishmashy grab bag of things that we find interesting , of rabbit holes that we find ourselves going down , because not only do we have our physical DNA , but we've got our spiritual DNA , have our physical DNA , but we've got our spiritual DNA , and all of those things can come together and be combined into our

own beautiful blend of magic . And so when I did one of those those chat GPT things months ago and I , you know , I said , okay , based on all of my Instagram posts and what you know about me , um , what do you think I am ? And that's what they said .

This was chat GPT saying you are the very , the internet's very godmother of good vibes , and I thought you know what that's good , I'm owning it because that's how I feel . So I , I feel like I'm more magical than witchy , with a healthy dose of fairy kind of energy mixed in there , um , like sparkles , and light .

Yeah , yeah , and I feel like my mission is to help people remember or recognize their own personal natural magic , Because magic is so many things . Magic is . Because magic is so many things . Magic is feeling like , you know , my kiddo has a big day at school today , so I'm going to bake some cookies before they get home .

So when he walks in he just feels better . That's magic . Magic is getting a hug from those people who hold on just a little bit longer than like the usual . Okay , going in for a hug . And now we're done Like , my daughter-in-law is one of those huggers and she will just hold on and you just feel yourself , you know , lightening up and feeling loved .

That's magic . So I feel like I teach a few different things when it comes to magic , but mostly natural magic meanings . In my world it would be working with , of course , our environment , with nature , with plants , with the seasons , with moon cycles , with the directions , with crystals , blah , blah , blah . All of that stuff . Love it , love it .

But natural magic is also what happens naturally around us , what is divinely guided , what do we create simply by being the best people that we can be , Our best , most brilliant selves . I think fires up , ignites our own personal natural magic . So um like probably in a 20 second nutshell . That's who I am I love it .

But I do think it's just that recognition to connect back to earth , to connect back to her , because we've mistreated her and I think we've done a lot to try to like rectify that .

but I do think there's that like disconnection on a daily basis for us personally , of how are we connecting to the natural cycles of the seasons , the days , the minutes , the sunsets , the sunrises right um , because they are such , they give us so much energy and they are such a big part of our lives , um , but we're so disconnected , and you know fire is ,

unless it's on a huge , tragic scale , is one of the four elements and it's not a bad element ordinarily , unless it gets out of control .

You know , when you need a big change , fire is the element that you want to call on , that you want to incorporate into any ritual or ceremony or prayer work . When we light incense or a sage stick or a smudge stick , we do that for intentional clearing , for setting sacred space , but it takes an ignition source , which is fire .

So fire activates that intention and I think that , aside from the people who are living in that location , so many of us have been affected by the scope of what's happening with the fires .

And although fire is necessary in small doses to clear things out , I think how it's portrayed on the media , you know , by feeling a connection , by being able to send love and healing , by getting us intentionally involved . And there are certain things that you know . I call them gossip vultures .

You know we have no business being involved in , it's none of your business . But but if there's something that we can send prayers or intention or ceremony or um or love toward , we should .

And that's part of what my work as an earth alchemist does , because my theory is that when tragedies happen , like last year with the Maui fires and now certainly with the LA fires , that is grief and horror and mourning on an enormous scale . On an enormous scale .

And if everything is energy which we know it is , every word , every thought , every action , every look is energy . Where does that stuff go ? It has to go somewhere . And so the earth , as any good mother will say , I'll take it , I will help you . And so her job is to absorb those emotions . But then what happens ?

It doesn't just sit in a pot underneath LA . It seeps into those , to those energy lines that I mentioned earlier , which circumnavigate the earth in so many different directions . Do you know those ? As kids , we used to have them . They were balls made out of rubber bands , and one rubber band would go on top of another and they'd go in all different .

That's what the energy lines of the earth look like . So , as emotions are absorbed into the earth , they go into those lines and then they travel across and around and around the earth and then , for those of us who may be sensitive or empathic , you know , just like when you eat a little too much , occasionally , you're going to have to burp right .

They get full and they have a little pop , they have a little opening , and those of us who are sensitive or empaths , if we happen to be over top one of those little energy blips , we're going to feel it and that's why we start feeling the headaches and anxiety and all of these things that ordinarily are not in our wheelhouse , you know .

So that's when I step in and I get involved , and so the things that I do are so all-encompassing . It's's like a little bit here , a little bit there . I'm like , okay , who needs me next and how can I help ? And so Enchanted Botanicals was born as a way that I can help , maybe on a larger scale , by teaching people how they can help .

So to start mentoring an army of healers of earth , healers of people , healers of garden healers , you know . So I like that ChatGPT called me that title .

So , even though it may seem like a huge disaster in our local area , it's

to the earth it's not that huge , so it's all relative , but it's big and so the earth will absorb it . Those emotions , those energies may sink into one line . It may be dispersed into a number of lines where it picks up energies from other events . In actuality , it doesn't matter what the source is .

The goal is to clear that line for all time and space from whatever is rolling through it at this moment , which is not to say that it's not going to be porous and at some point in the future , be able to absorb more . Of course it will .

You know , like if we give blood , our veins may be empty momentarily , but we're going to make more and us being the little critters living on top of the earth , we're going to make more .

You know , more traumas , more dramas that the earth needs to clear up , and so that's what I think part of my mission here is to help people by clearing the land for them , clearing those energy lines and teaching other people how to do if they don't want to do the earth alchemy work .

Certainly , you know , maybe they want to become a plant healer , maybe they want to dive into their witchy roots or their wizard roots , whatever it is . I'm just here to support them and let them know there is nothing wrong with you . I support all of this . I'm here for it . It's fun . I mean , it's like you know , a good hat Right Exactly .

For example , is a download of somebody's house that I got off of google , okay , so here's their , their house , and what I do is I , um , I use a pendulum , that's my tool of divination , and so I'll start on one side and kind of connect with my guides , my angels , whoever wants to come in and help me do what I consider .

At this point , once I tap into somebody's land , energy , the energy of the family , that becomes sacred , and so you can see all of these different little lines going through , like here and here and here . These are different energy lines going through . Those are the naturally occurring energies .

They are not , um , like transmission lines , they're not electric lines , telephone lines , cable lines . These are naturally occurring , um kind of like veins , veins , waterways , energyways throughout the earth . And I also will track what's called yin water , and yin water is the word . Yin is very soft , and so in feng shui we've got yin and yang .

Yin is the feminine , soft , nurturing . Yang is like boom , masculine energy in your face . So the yin water lines are deep down and they just kind of move and flow . But if they get stuck , you might start feeling like your energy is stagnant . You not , you're not creative , you're .

You know you used to be full of life and energy and now you're just kind of feeling yeah , so I look at those and clear those as well . A lot of times where the lines cross , you'll see , like here , it shows a little spiral . Those are earth chakras , energy points .

Some people will call them vortexes , or if you watch the ghosty shows , they call them portals , and if you know me , you know I sit on my couch and I watch those shows and I scream at them . It doesn't work that way . You don't know what you're talking about .

Anyway , and then I'll also take a look at people's floor plans , because very often where the lines cross might be their office and at one point they were feeling very productive in that office and now they're not , and so we either want to shift , maybe move their office . I've had clients where we've moved their office , like online .

As I was zooming with them , she moved her office from one room to another and then contacted me later and she she's like , oh my gosh , best move ever . But what I do is for each one of those lines I will say okay , at the beginning again .

I use my pendulum , I create a little chart like this which has everybody in the family , all the cats , all the dogs , and for each of those lines I say , okay for Jen , line A , um , you know neutral . And I'll say , okay for Jen's partner , here's this . For Jen's dog , here's this .

And then I go back and I I just do this sort of energetic visualization where I literally see myself in the line and um and sending clearing energy and um and light through all . And this is so , so important and anybody can do this .

If you're doing any kind of energy work or prayer work , past life work , the phrase that I think is key is is to say through all space and time , because when we talk about past lives , we tend to think of a past life , but in quantum physics it's all kind of happening at the same time .

And I don't understand it because my brain's not big enough , but I have faith . So and that's how , if you hear somebody say ancestral healing , it's not about healing your ancestors , necessarily . It's going back to that time of your soul's history where you were powerful and strong and healthy . It's going back to that point and clearing the energy .

And I have a really good example of this One of my energy students she's now a master , you know .

She studied with me through her master level and she was doing some distance healing with a friend of hers who was in the hospital , with a friend of hers who was in the hospital and she worked so hard to help heal her friend and then she called me desperately , like two days later , and she said I am so sick .

I have never been this sick in my life and she had taken on the symptoms of her friend , which is not supposed to happen because , you know , as energy practitioners , we practice setting up boundaries . It's a one-way valve .

If things are working as they should , the healing energy channels through us , not from us , but we're human , you know , and sometimes we step into situations to help without fully thinking through all of the steps that we need to take .

And this is what happened to my friend and my student , and so I was working with her energy from , not in person , so it's called distance or remote and I suddenly got this message from I think it was from my guides , who made a suggestion to go back to the point where she was feeling good and strong and healthy .

And so she did , and she envisioned , she visualized herself in that energetic space of being good and strong and powerful and healthy and clearing out anything that was like from that point a to point b , and it was like a miracle , I mean it worked for her .

clearing is so important and and I was just talking about this on another episode but the idea of clearing even the way or the perspectives that you see other people right , and to invite something new in , of integrate that in your daily life or weekly , or something to to really kind of start fresh , especially now when there's so much shit happening , like every

other minute you're like bombarded by something , and so it's almost like this task to how can you keep kind of clearing the energy so that you stay grounded , you stay clear to and and you stay open for good to come in Right ?

just not going to happen . But we are all miracle workers in tiny , everyday ways . You know , by holding a door for someone who would have been struggling because she had a bunch of bags , that's going to make her feel better and seen and cared for in that moment , and then maybe she'll take that and pass it forward .

That's our mission , is to be good people . You know , it's easy , it's easy , but we , as people who are meant to do this work , we take on things a lot more quickly and we tend to get bogged down a lot more quickly than someone who is not maybe open or , um , not wired to to do this work . And and that's fine .

I mean , I am not judging anybody for not . Can you imagine what it would be like if the whole world ?

So if I have a discussion that needs to be had with some of those type people , I'll usually do it . Then Taking a bath at night is also a way of cleansing the day off .

I have a scrub , a hand scrub , that I created because , after my mom passed away , eight years ago now , my dad had just been diagnosed with dementia and we were so blessed to find a 24-hour care person for him . And he's still with us , still with our care person .

But at the time she was going from client to client and it got me thinking of , like a bee , how a bee goes from flower to flower collecting pollen , and I thought , well , she's kind of doing that too . And I thought , well , she's kind of doing that too .

So I want to create something for her , but also for teachers and other caregivers and nurses and moms those of us who are empaths , who collect energy throughout the day . So I created a scrub that people can use and it's a visual , and that's really what magic is . Magic is a visual , it's an art , it's the art of change .

You know , doing something intentionally to change . And so , anyway , the scrub is just like so great and it's a sugar scrub and so people can just take a little scoop of it and wet your hands and it foams up and it makes them all soft and smooth .

But the magic is that , as they're using this , they're envisioning everything that they picked up throughout the day , like the little bee is , is being cleared off . Could they do this with regular soap ? Yeah , totally . Could they do it without soap ? Totally , but we're kind of wired to like the stuff . You know . We like the accessories .

Their 5d is like okay , the spiritual , the mental , the , the thing , the unseen connected with the scene , the , exactly that makes it holistic , because we are living in the 3d , because we have a body , because we have eyes , like there needs to be

, and I think that's where again that word I don't know what the word really means , but ritual comes to mind . It's like you are setting something up or you're lighting a candle , or you're doing something with your hands and your eyes , that kind of complete that feeling and that magic Exactly .

We want another expert to tell us how to do it . You know , because maybe I'm not feeling so confident in how I mean . You know , that's why we pay people to manage our social media or build our websites , because they're the experts in those things .

And so I want to be a resource for people to learn how to connect the seen with the unseen or the other way around , the , you know , the unseen with how can , what can they use ? What tangible tool can they use to make that magical connection ?

But I always make sure and this is what really cheeses me off about so many people in the magical , you know , witchy field is that they'll say buy this candle , buy this incense and you'll be able to do this . And it doesn't happen that way .

It's like if you need to get , you want to hang a picture on your wall , so you get the nail and you hold it up there and then you have to pick up the hammer . And sometimes I do use a mouse , but you pick up the hammer and hammer it in . You have to pick up the hammer . The hammer doesn't levitate itself .

So that candle , that incense , that sage stick is not going to like do the work .

And then , oh yeah , there are these people who make these really groovy tools that make it more fun to accomplish that change and less overwhelming , yeah right .

Right , because I've already me or you know , any other maker out there has already brought together the crystals and the oils and and made this pretty tool that that may or may not , you know , help do your work , but it's not going to do the work for you .

Palo Santo is another good , and I keep a little bowl of it here because when I send out orders I add a little bit of Palo Santo in the box . The thing to be aware of in any kind of plant magic is that different people have different ideas , different rules on what plants are good for .

And when I was writing my book , it's called Notes from an Enchanted Garden , and I wrote it during the pandemic , when we were all in lockdown . What annoys me and I guess I'm making it sound like there's so much that annoys me , but really only two big things . This is one . My other big thing is that people will say you must use this herb for that .

So , like , if you want to protect the boundaries of your home , you have to use mint . And my question is what if you don't like mint ? It would be like asking your next-door neighbor , who you don't get along with , to water your plants or watch your dog while you're on vacation . It's probably not going to work out real great . So why would you use mint ?

Work out real great , so why would you use mint ? And so find an herb , find a flower that does speak to you of that so like . For me , I would go to rose , because in plant magic we look at this ancient concept that's called the doctrine of signatures . So what does it look like ? What are its characteristics , what is its environment ?

So a rose , we know , has thorns , which means she's going to be a protective badass to whatever is growing around her . So if you want to protect your home , you want to protect your desk , your workspace , I would use rose For wealth . A lot of people have their own ideas on that , but I would go back to the doctrine of signatures .

What is the color of wealth to you ? In feng shui it might be gold , right , so you might want to find a plant like calendula that has bright gold flowers . I'm looking at yesterday's bowl of popcorn here . This could be another example buttery popcorn . Use what you've got handy . It's all about symbolism . What does something symbolize to you ?

That's where your personal magic , your personal practice , is going to be the most powerful when it means something to you , not what I say . My job is to just give you ideas . You know it's a starting point for you to get creative and create your own magic . My magic is not going to be the same as somebody else's . I can .

I can maybe give you ideas on how to start a magical practice , but it's called practice because you're the one doing it . I mean you don't go to soccer practice and say , oh , I went to soccer practice and you sat on the sidelines Right and that coach is like coaching you to be the best player for you like to be the best ?

Yes , yes , you're not going to be the same kind of forward as the goalkeeper , you know , or the same kind of player as the forward or the goal , because you've got different skills , you've got different interests , you've got different interests .

You know , bake cookies because you know , or maybe bake cookies with all yellow M&Ms because you know you want to call in some wealth . I mean , get silly with it .

The universe has the biggest sense of humor of all of us , of all of us , and , um , I mean just think at the wacky things that happen in your life and you say , oh my gosh , I cannot believe this happened . It's because somebody bigger than us is like check this out , yeah , I think Jen needs to have a big laugh today .

I've got candles and incense and soapsaps and hand scrub , all kinds of fun things . There's another tab that's called services , courses and services . So I've got three

courses rolling out soon A revamp of my plant magic class , which I've always taught , kind of I call it in person , but it's by zoom , so it's live , but I'll be reformatting that into an evergreen format . Then I'm doing a new course called natural magic , a guide to enchantment .

And then I have another new course coming out called A Modern Guide to Floriography . And floriography is the ancient through modern secret language of plants , like what do they all mean and what kind of message , what kind of secret can you create or listen to with these plants ? Create or listen to with these plants , um . And then I've my services are .

I've got energy medicine , which , um , I'll see people either in person or distance , and that works just as well as in person , because energy is everywhere , yeah , and it's all about the intent of connecting soul to soul with someone . I've got my earth alchemy .

Um , I've got a whole page of freebies where people could download my if , if people follow the wheel of the year , which is like the , the solstices and the equinoxes and those the the cross-quarter days in between , like tomorrow actually is Imbolg , which is , um , I know when this airs will be well past that and probably , when this airs , it'll be past the

spring equinox too . But I write an enchantment guide for each one of those holidays . So it's all about what are the , what's the history , what are the rituals , how can we celebrate this ? To , to bring more depth and meaning and magic into our lives , and um . But if they go to freebies , they'll see like five or six different downloads that they might love .

They're great .

have them in a notebook , in a record . They're like scrapbooks for information . And so I'm . Since I am very much a sun girl , I mean , the light is can't get here soon enough for me .

I'm calling this my book of light and in my newsletters I will often include graphics or descriptions of something and I'll say don't forget to download this to your book of light .

So I'm kind of formalizing that , and every month people will be able to to sign up for a membership and automatically get downloads that include maybe 12 different graphic affirmations for the month . There's a magical ritual . There is what are the full and new moon energies ? What are the full and new moon energies ?

How can we harness the constellation that they're going through ? There's what's called a monograph , which means I take one plant and I talk about what are its petals like , what do its leaves look like , and then on the next page , what are all of its petals like , what do its leaves look like ?

And then on the next page , what are all of its magical properties .